NEWS OF THE WEEK.
AFTER play even the grown child finds work rather irksome ; and the Whitsuntide holydays, followed too by the break of " the Derby day," indisposed Parliament to begin the week very dili- gently. -Not that the work done was very small in amount, for-- wally ; but talkers were idle, and left more than usual of unin- terrupted routine to Mr. Speaker.
-The most earnest, and the most (diligent to use their tongues, 'Were the Protectionists ; who had another of their complaining de- bates in the Upper House. Lord Stanley confessed that these dia.: missions are meant to be weekly, and said that their object was to accustom the public mind. to the idea of revising the new com- mercial policy. This, then, is the unexpressed or supplemental understanding of his recent manifesto--the. means which he con- templated for effecting a change in the public conviction. But for that purpose, Lord Stanley would need to be at some pains to ren- der the discussions more effective: • Displays of statistical figures have lost their imposing influence with the public, and the Pro- teetionists are copying the device a day too late. Complaint, es- pecially that of having been overreaehed or vanquished In pitched
i battle, is always damaging to the complainer. So that on the *hole, we suspect, the " weekly disoussiona " are doing no good. -
The most effective demonstration- made by the Protectionists has been their retort of financial reform. Neither Mr. Henley in his sweeping motion, nor Mr. Forbes, this week, in his motion on the Supply to reduce certain Treasury salaries by 10 per cent, succeeded in the direct object ; but they both succeeded in opposing an ef- fectual balk to their extreme antagonists, the Financial Reformers: They have reduced the Financial Reformers—who lack heart to rislOdisturbing the Whig Ministers—to the awkward position of declining retrenchment ! Colonel Thompson positively refused to accept it from the Opposition. Mr. Cobden resisted an attack on " wages," " spitefully.' intended to bring disparagement on free trade. Those distinguished Financial Reformers may rightly have divined the motive of the Protectionists, but they have not the
less been forced from their own position. -
The resignation of Lord Chancellor Cottenhani' embarrasses the Government with opportunities of doing good. To select a good Chancellor, to divide the political andjudicial offices—these are duties for which they are expected to be eager ; but Lord john hums and haws, and talks about " consideration," in a very omi- nous manner. To divide the offices would be to fulfil an old pledge ; _to select the best candidate would be to decide. Besides, is there not insatiable John Campbell standing by, with his month open p • True, he has got two Peerages and a Chief Justiceship ; but, is it to be supposed that he is satisfied ? Mr. Miles's proposition for enabling parishes to send out their pauper girls, under due regulations, at the joint expense of parish and colony, was an approach to real business. There is no doubt that the machinery of the Poor-laws might be more extensive! y. used in emigration ; but what have practical reasons to do with anything that invites the concurrence of Lord Grey or Mr. Hawes?' Mr. Hawes says somethi g about want of funds, equality of the sexes in the actual emigration, and sufficiency, of labour in the Australian settlements ; and the subservient Commons are eager to accept such excuses for doing nothing.
Lord Ashley's motion for a total suspension of Sunday work in, the Post-office deportment, although professing to include a num- ber of popular considerations, was manifestly conceived less in re-_ gard to.the working classes, as such, than:to enforce universally a Judakal observance of the Sabbath. His speech was calculated to conciliate opponents by its moderation and some degree of can- dour. Nevertheless, the carrying of his resolution, modified as it was from the original announcement, by 93 to 68, was a result as unexpected as it may be vain. The merits of the question are now publicly understood many of the petitions on which Lord Ashley relies as an expression of opinion are known to be false and prejudiced in their statements ; the official mind, we should suppose, is rather made up, and not to be diverted by a chance vote of the House of Commons, any more than in the case of the Stamp-duties : indeed, as the whole ten- dency of Mr. Rowland Hill's recent improvements has been to diminish Sunday work at the Post-office, without sacrificing advantages that the public seems very loth to relinquish, the adoption of the second branch of Lord Ashley's proposition would probably end in reaction and a defeat of his own object. The division is accounted for by the fact that it happened ear- lier in the evening than Members expected; that many Members were absent at the City dinner, and more of them on account of the half-holyday slackness,—the rather as they had been called upon to do extra duty at the morning business of the House. Lord John. Russell has reintroduced his Jew Bill, with some mo- dification; but-has deferred explanation till the second reading. The new bill encounters the old opposition ; and nothing is said by Lord John to make us feel assured that Ministers intend to be firmer than before.
The Parliamentary event of the week has been the admission of the 'House of Commons to its new chamber; which it is henceforth to occupy for the day sittings. The result of the first trial seems to be, that the chamber will not afford sufficient , space for all the Members to sit down ; that the spaces for the visiters are ludicrously confined ; and that the voice is heard with difficulty or not at all. In the vast Par- liamentary Palace at Westminster, room has not been provided for the House of Commons ! It is said in extenuation, that if-the space were larger,-it would be more difficult to see and hear': Her Majesty's Theatre contains four or five times the number Of the House of Commons, and there is not the slightest (difficulty in hearing the voice from any part of that building—the most care- less word of Lablaohe in level speaking or the most attenuated note of Sontag in song, nay, not unfrequently the whispered sug- gestion of the prompter. Decidedly, the architect, or the Commit"- tee of. Taste that controlled him, should be called upon to make atonement by providing camp-stools and speaking-trumpets.
